tanaka



2 Sheets-Sheet l. KA. EY BOARD.

Patented May 14, 1889.

(No Model.)

l S. TANA TRANSPOSING K w om A W E. M a? M f A? Q .y O r M u (No Model.)2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. TANAKA.

TRANSPOSING KEY BOARD. No. 403,3061 Patented May 14, 1889,

Wffzefse- I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

snoHE TANAKA, or AwAJI, JAPAN.

TRANSPOSING KEY-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent NO. 403,306, dated May 14,1889.

Application filed May 14, 1888. Serial No. 273,902. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, SHOH TANAKA, of Awaji, Japan, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Pianos, of which the :following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform part of this specification, and in which similar letters ofreference denote the same parts.

The invention relates to that kind of pianos in which a transposition ofa piece of music from one key to another is effected by shifting thekey-board of the piano in the horizontal plane, so that a given key ismade to strike any string desired. ly this means piane-forte playing canbe simplified in such a way that a piece written in any key, after beingtransposed into another key-say the key of C-can be played with the keysbclonging to the C-key by shifting the position of the key-board. Ahearer will not be able to tell the difference of playing, andaccordingly the exercising in piano-forte playing will be restricted toone major and one minor key instead of twelve. As in certaincompositions, however, modulations occur-z'. e., the shifting of thetune from one key to another while playing-it is necessary to have ameans of effecting the displacement of the key-board in such an easy andconvenient manner that little or no interruption in playing will beperceptible.

All the arrangements used or tried heretofore, to my knowledge, formechanical transposition do not satisfy the above condition, as they aretoo inconvenient and cumbrous 'in handling, and require so much time tobe set to its proper position, that the playing must be stopped for sometime whenever such change of key is desired.

The object of the present invention is to overcome these diliculties ina simple and effective manner.

rlhe invention consists in the details of improvement and thecombinations of parts, that are more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a partial front view of thekey-board and the front wall of an upright piano. Fig. 2 is a verticaltransverse section of the upper portion of a piano. Fig. f3 is a detailsectional plan view of the transposing mechanism. Fig. i is a detailplan View showing the transposing-lever, and Fig. 5 is a front view ofpart of the key-board and transposing mechanism of a piano, other partsbeingin section.

XVithin the piano-casing A is a lever, zj, which turns at one end on astud, Z), fastened to a bar, 7)', within the piano-casing. The lever 1/carries a toothed sector, c, that gears with a rack, d, on a bar, d2, ofthe frame e of the key-board. The frame e rests upon rollers r,journaled in the key-board case, which is for a space of, say, sevenwhite keys wider than the frame e, thus permitting the keyboard frame eto be moved longitudinally for a full octave.

On the free end of the lever 'y is pivoted a stem or crank, o, thatpasses through a horizontal slot in the front wall, a, of the casing.

7u is a knob on the outer end of the stem o, or the lever g/ could passthrough the wall a and carry the knob k. lYhen the knob 7c of thetransposing-lever y is moved to the right or the left, the key-boardwill thereby be shifted in the same direction.

As each single hammer-action normally rests with its foot m upon thefelt n of its key-beam n?, and prevents a sidewise movement of thekey-board e, the feet m of all the hammers should be simultaneouslylifted out of their place to permit the shifting of the key-board. Thisis accomplished as follows: Upon a rock-shaft, t', extending from oneside of the piano-case to the other and above the lever y are securedarms only one of which is shown. A cross-bar, g, is secured to thesearms, which cross-bar is below all the free ends of the wings 7L, eachof which wings is connected to one foot fm. Then the shaft 'i is rocked,the bar gwill be raised by the arms t, and thereby the wings 7L raised,which wings then lift the feet m from the key-beams yn?, and permit thekey-frame e to be moved sidewise.

The shaft 'i is rocked at the proper time as follows: 0n said shaft 'i alever, Z, is mounted, (see Figs. and 3,) the front part of which iswidened to nearly the extent of the sector c, and shaped likel acircular sector, with its center in the stud D. 'lhe stem 0 of the levery, which stem permitted a slight rip-and- IOO down motion, carries avertical arm, q. The arm q carries upon a horizontal inwardly-extendingstud, s2, a roller, s, that contacts the upper portion of the lever Z.By a spring, f, or springs, on the shaft t', and which bears ,at one endagainst the bar b', or elsewhere, the lever Z is normally kept pressedupward. Therefore the'roller S and also the stem o of the lever y aredrawn up with said lever. The slot of the front wall, athroughlwhich thestem o passes, is provided in its upper part with a number of recessesor indentations. Into these recesses the stem 0 of the 1ever fJ, armedwith a friction -roller, o', (see Fig. 3,) is adapted to iit and toremain through the action of the spring f, thereby holding the key-framein its proper position. The recesses or indentations may be marked, sothat the position of the stem o in a recess indicates the key in which apiece will be played. By pressing` down the stem 0 out of an indentationthe front end of the lever Z is depressed, and accordingly the shaft@rocked, which, actingthrough the bar g and wings ZL, raises the feet mfrom the key-beams n2. The key-board frame e is now free to be moved byturning the lever y. Vthen the lever g/ is released, the stem o willrise and enter a recess or indentation. As the stem o rises, the shaft iturns back into its normal position, the cross-bar g sinks down, and thefeet m come to rest upon the felts n of the key-beams. Further, by meansof the spring f, the stem o is made to slip in the nearest indentation,and thereby the felt end of the key-beam n2 will be automaticallybrought exactly under the feet m of the hammer-action, and thus correctany inaccuracies of setting on the part of the player.

'Ihe ends of the arms 2f are connected by links u witha board, w,extending across the piano-case and swinging round the shaft e, suitablysupported in the case. The lower edge of the board w faces the upperedge of the end of the key-beams n2. By depressing the stem 0 andraising the ends of the arms t the board w is turned in such way thatits lower edge swings above the ends of the keybeams; but the board wcannot make this movement if one or more keys are depressedthat is, ifthe inner end, m, of one or more key-beams 'a2 are raised-and if theboard w cannot swing the stem 0 cannot be depressed. The depressed keysmust be first allowed to resume their normal position. This device,

aswsimple as it is, is therefore a safeguard against an injury of thehammer-action in case of accidental depression cf a key just before thedisplacement of the key-board. Moreover, it protects the mechanism, too,if during the shifting of the transposing-lever a key should bedepressed, for in that case the board fw is already swung over the endsa: of the key-beams and does not allow them to rise.

It will be understood that this mechanism can be applied not only toupright pianos,

upon which the description is based, but to othermusicalinstruments-such,for instance, as organs, harmoniums,table-pianos, saloonpianos, tc-having key-boards, with correspondingchange in the positions of several parts, if necessary. n

Having now descrilt ed my invention, what I claim isl. In a transposingdevice for pianos, the rack CZ and the key-board frame carrying thesame, combined with the lever y, having a toothed sector, c, engagingsaid rack, and with the wall a, having notches in which the lever canrest to retain the key-board, substantially as shown and described, andfor the purpose set forth.

2. In a transposing device for pianos, the combination of the key-boardthat is movable sidewise and a lever, y, having a toothed sector, c,with the rack CZ, fastened to the keyboard frame, and with means,substantially as described, for lifting the feet 'm from the felts n ofthe key-beams prior to the displacement of the key-board, as specified.

3. The combination of the movable keyboard e, lever y, for actuatingsame, and means for retaining said lever, upright q, lever Z, engagedthereby, shaft t', carrying said lever, arms t on said lever, cross-barg on said arms, springs f, wings h, and feet m, substantially as shownand described, and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a transposing device for pianos, the key-board adapted to beshifted, in combination with the swinging bar w, to prevent the risingof the key-beams, and with means, substantially as described, foractuating said bar w, substantially as shown and described, and for thepurpose set forth.

This specification signed by me this 21st day of March, 1888.

sHoI-I TANAKA. lVitnesses:

CARL T. BURRHARDT, ULR. R. MAERZ.

IOO

